Joe Lee (District 1 Bloomington city council candidate)
Isabel Piedmont-Smith (District 1 Bloomington city council nominee)
The Democratic Party’s May 2 primary election for city council District 1 is a choice between Joe Lee and Isabel Piedmont-Smith. There is no Republican candidate in District 1.
This write-up provides specific background on the District 1 city council primary race as well as general background.
April 20 is the last day to apply for an absentee ballot. Application for an absentee ballot, verification of voter registration, and a preview of the ballot are available through the Indiana secretary of state’s voter information portal.
For 90 minutes on Monday night at Tri-North Middle School, the three candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor of Bloomington fielded questions at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County.
Seated from left to right on the stage of the school’s performance center, in front of an audience of about 40 people, were: Susan Sandberg and Kerry Thomson, and Don Griffin.
Asking the questions was Indiana University Maurer School of Law student, Laura Rusk. This report does not try to cover every question asked at the forum.
Monday’s forum took place on last day before the start of early voting, which begins Tuesday, April 4 at 8 a.m. The League of Women Voters maintains a list of upcoming candidate forums, for mayor and for city council races.
Annexation was a topic where some daylight had already been established between the candidates, and that distance was also apparent on Monday night. Griffin is in solid support of annexation, Sandberg in solid opposition Thomson is somewhere in between.
Although they disagree on annexation, Sandberg and Griffin found common ground on a recent proposal by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton to close Lower Cascades Road (Old State Road 37) to car traffic. Neither Sandberg nor Griffin want to see the road closed to automobiles.
The wording of the question went like this: “The sense is that those who would like to see Old State Road 37 closed, and the space transition to a green space, have few advocates in government. What is your position?”
Thomson did not state a position on the road closure, but analyzed the preamble to the question, saying, “The problem that this questioner has brought up, is not actually about the road—it’s about their access to their government.”
At Monday’s forum, the three candidates also responded to a question about the Seminary Park encampment that was the subject of a proposed ordinance in 2021.
From left: Kerry Thomson, Don Griffin, and Susan Sandberg.
Appearing on stage in the auditorium of the Monroe County Public Library on Saturday afternoon were all three candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination as mayor of Bloomington: Don Griffin, Susan Sandberg and Kerry Thomson.
Early voting for the May 2 primary starts on April 4.
The theme of Saturday’s forum was: racial justice, social justice, and economic justice. The event was hosted by Monroe County NOW and several other organizations that are committed to advancing the interests of marginalized communities and promoting civic participation.
After giving two-minute opening statements, the candidates fielded questions delivered by moderator Maqubè Reese, who is associate director of diversity initiatives at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and president of the Monroe County Branch NAACP.
Standing: Lori White and chief deputy clerk Tressia Martin. Seated: Bob White.
Seated from the top: Tina Engle, Tressia Martin, Keeley Hardiman. Standing is Bob White.
Chief deputy clerk Tressia Martin feeds test ballots through the high-speed scanner.
This is the signature history on file with the state of Indiana for the writer of this article.
On Friday morning, Monroe County’s election equipment was put through its paces at the old Johnson Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets in downtown Bloomington, aka Election Central.
When the tallies were totalled up, from the test decks that had been fed through the three regular ballot scanners and one high-speed machine, they added up to the numbers they were supposed to.
Attending the test were all three election board members: Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne, Donovan Garletts and David Henry.
B&L IT Services is a contractor the county uses for logistics and technical support in connection with elections, including the upcoming city primary on May 2.
As B&L’s Bob White told the board, when he put a stack of printouts on the table: “These are the results we got. They were the expected results—if you compare them, they all match.”
Monroe County’s voting equipment is manufactured by Hart InterCivic. Early in-person voting starts on April 4.
Susan Sandberg, Aver’s Public House, Feb. 21, 2023
Kerry Thomson, Aver’s Public House, Feb. 21, 2023
Appearing in the same room at the same time on Tuesday were all three Bloomington mayoral candidates in the May 2 primary race for the Democratic Party’s nomination: Don Griffin, Susan Sandberg, and Kerry Thomson
The room was Aver’s Public House on South College Mall Road. The occasion was a regular meeting of the Monroe County Democrats’ Club. Each candidate delivered a stump speech. After that, they fielded a few questions as a group.
Also given time to speak was the sole candidate for city clerk, incumbent Nicole Bolden, as well as the two candidates for the District 2 city council seat, Kate Rosenbarger and Sue Sgambelluri, who both currently serve on the city council. The outcome of the redistricting process put the two in the same district.
In a Thursday afternoon meeting that lasted about six and a half minutes, Monroe County’s three-member election board dispatched all the resolutions related to setting polling locations for the May 2 primary elections.
Democratic Party candidate names are in blue. Republican Party candidate names are in red. The locations for dots and labels of candidate names correspond to where the candidates live.
Democratic Party candidate names are in blue. Republican Party candidate names are in red. The locations for dots and labels of candidate names correspond to where the candidates live.
On Jan. 4, residents were able start filing official declarations of candidacy in the 2023 Bloomington primary elections.
But at noon on Friday, the time for filing official paperwork expired.
No unexpected declarations for mayor were recorded on the last day of filing. That means voters across the city in Bloomington’s Democratic Party primary on May 2 will have three mayoral candidates to choose from: Kerry Thomson; Susan Sandberg; and Don Griffin.
And Democrats will have a pool of seven at-large city council candidates—from which to choose three.
There’s only one candidate in the Democratic primary for city clerk—incumbent Nicole Bolden.
Republican voters will have no citywide candidates to choose from.
The one independent candidate for mayor who has filed paperwork to establish a committee is Joseph Davis. But he has not yet submitted the 352 signatures that he needs, in order to be placed on the Nov. 7 general election ballot. The deadline for Davis and any other independent candidates to submit signatures is June 30.
3rd and Walnut in downtown Bloomington (Oct. 12, 2022)
At 8 a.m. sharp on Wednesday, Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne opened the door at the new election operations center at 3rd and Walnut streets in downtown Bloomington and proclaimed: “Hear ye, hear ye, the polls are now open!”
That’s how in-person early voting started in Monroe County, Indiana.
About a half dozen people were standing in line waiting for the polls to open. Signs for several of the local candidates for office had been placed to be visible to motorists on Walnut and 3rd streets.
The building’s newly installed canopy sheltered people standing in line from a light mist. The temperature was around 60 F degrees.
